Member's Press Release

Release Date: 10/15/2018
Contact: Jennifer McPherson (304) 340-3240

House Democratic Leaders

House Democratic Leaders Criticize Botched Impeachment Process

“I am disappointed that Republican legislative leaders did not prioritize the impeachment of Justice Allen Loughry earlier this year during the legislative session and have now caused the entire impeachment process to be turned into chaos,” House Minority Leader Tim Miley (D-Harrison) stated. “Part of what has caused this chaos was the Republican leadership’s failure to follow its own rules of impeachment, even after several Democratic members brought these issues to their attention throughout the process,” he continued. “To this day, Republican leadership refuses to acknowledge that they made any mistakes at all in the impeachment process,” Delegate Miley stated. “The Legislature has wasted a lot of time and taxpayer dollars on these failed impeachment proceedings.”

“I introduced a resolution to look at impeaching former Justice Allen Loughry back in February, and the House Republican leadership refused to take it up,” Delegate Mike Pushkin (D-Kanawha) stated. “When public pressure finally pushed them to take up impeachment, they failed to follow proper procedure during the proceedings,” he continued. “Then, pride and arrogance prevented leadership from fixing these mistakes back in August when the House of Delegates was still in session,” Delegate Pushkin said. “Now, unless the Governor calls the House back in to session for yet another special session, we will not be able to fix this and the impeachment charges against former Justice Allen Loughry, who just last week was convicted on federal charges, could be null and void,” he added. “Republican legislative leaders have botched this impeachment by first refusing to investigate and by not following the rules when they finally decided to look into former Justice Loughry’s unethical and illegal behavior.”

“Chaos continues to reign at the Legislature,” House Minority Whip Mike Caputo (D-Marion) stated. “The Republicans in the statehouse were so focused on handpicking a court for their rich corporate cronies that they failed to follow the rules of the Legislature,” he said. “The removal from office of an elected official should be a serious undertaking, and it is a shame that the impeachment proceedings were handled in such a poor way.”

“The West Virginia House of Delegates impeached the entire Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia for maladministration,” Delegate Isaac Sponaugle (D-Pendleton) stated. “House Republican leadership did not follow the Rules of the House of Delegates and proceeded to commit maladministration themselves,” he continued. “The irony of the current state of affairs in West Virginia speaks for itself- what a mess!” Delegate Sponaugle said. “The House should impeach itself for maladministration, but the odds are that would get botched too with this leadership.”